Intel Sees Future in Robots, Sensor Networks
Thu Mar 20, 7:33 PM ET
story.news.yahoo.com
By Elinor Mills Abreu
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Reuters) - In the future, it might not just be "Intel Inside" personal computers, but -- if the company's research efforts pay off -- Intel inside robots, home furnishings and even inside the outdoors.
Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news) has opened small labs near four universities and is working with students and professors on research on a variety of technologies, including embedding its chips into increasingly smaller devices and substances.
The world's largest semiconductor maker opened its doors on Thursday to members of the media to show off some of those projects.
In one technology demonstration, a small, purse-sized robot programmed to follow items that are red, chased a red teddy bear around the floor.
Intel is working with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University on a common hardware and software platform for robotics so companies do not have to start from scratch when designing future robots, said Jim Butler, an architecture director at Intel Research.
At the far end of the room, in a mock household, Intel researchers demonstrated technology that could be used to monitor Alzheimer's patients or assist the elderly.
Video cameras, motion detectors and small sensors in chairs, appliances, carpets were used to track and log the movements of an Intel engineer who wore radio frequency identification tags on the bottom of his shoes and infrared badges on his clothes.
The system will be tested in as many as two dozen U.S. homes beginning January 2004 and possibly in Japan, said Intel researcher Eric Dishman. "We're testing pieces in nursing homes," he said. "It will show up in (healthcare) facilities first."
At the heart of a number of the Intel research projects are small sensor devices called "motes," developed initially at University of California at Berkeley. Containing tiny bits of computing, storage and RF technology, they gather data and send it back and forth.
In field trials, Intel has outfitted a vineyard in British Columbia with 16 of the pager-sized sensors to monitor microclimates to help prevent against frostbite, mold and other problems.
Spaced about 33 feet apart, they take temperature and other weather measurements every five minutes and pass it on to neighboring sensors until it reaches a main server.
Separately, the Radio Free Intel project is developing inexpensive RF technology to "drive down the cost of wireless connectivity so we can afford to put it into every chip we make," said David Tennenhouse, director of research for Santa Clara, California-based Intel.
Ultimately, tiny sensors in dishwashers and other appliances could be used to register minute vibrations to alert users to problems like equipment failure and leaks, he said.
As an example of other research being done, Tennenhouse said Boeing has experimented with painting sensor-laden "smart skin" on airplane wings to register airflow and other things.
Intel is working with the University of Cambridge on next-generation networks and with University of Washington on healthcare applications and location-aware technologies. |
